Noon Wine leaves us wondering: What would we do?

Katherine Anne Porters novella, or long short story perhaps, Noon Wine, feels contemporary in an odd way - probably because it was a bit of a period piece when written: written in the 1930s but describing a remote Texas dairy farm at the beginning of the 20th century. The strength of the story is its vivid depiction of the hardships of life in rural America at a time before there were any social services whatsoever: story about a farmer, Thompson, who's gruff and miserly, but has a tough life - he's obviously unsuited to dairy farming, and is under great pressure in that his wife is ill and unable to do all the farm-wife chores, which are massive. A man wanders onto the property looking for work and Thompson - after some truly nasty racist remarks about his recent hired men - takes him on at a ridiculously low wage. The hired man, Helton, taciturn to the point of obsession (reminds me a bit of Bartleby), is a great worker and turns the farm - and therefore the whole life of the Thompson family around. Story hinges on a scene of revelation: rather obnoxious guy - a bounty hunter perhaps? - shows up looking for Helton, who's apparently wanted for murder (of his brother?) many years back. So does Thompson betray Helton? or valiantly rise to his defense? And if he does defend him, is it because he has gone through a moral conversion from having worked with Helton, and realized he is a good man, despite the allegations? Or does he defend him for selfish reasons: He can't live without Helton, or more accurately with exploiting Helton's labor? Porter more or less backs off from this dramatic, and ethical, conflict - and in a way the story is better for that, leaving the questions open and letting us ponder: what should he have done? what would we do?